warring states careerist

Chapter 718
Gao Zi said, "But the existence of air can be proved through experiments."

The Confucian scholar said: "The same is true of benevolence and righteousness. Some people are benevolent and righteous, but animals do not have benevolence and righteousness. Therefore, it can be proved that benevolence and righteousness are unique to humans, but animals do not."

Gao Zi said: "But you can't prove that he has it? It may be just a piece of white paper, which is affected by the external environment, such as silk dyeing, dyeing yellow becomes yellow, dyeing black becomes black. You can only prove that it may have, But maybe not."

The Confucian scholar said, "Then how can you prove that it doesn't exist?"

Gao Zi said: "Whoever advocates, who proves. It is you who say that there is, and I say that there may not be, and that is not human nature. I think human nature may not have a heart of benevolence and righteousness, which is caused by the external environment, and this can also be explained The example you said. I can give a counterexample to prove that yours may not be right, but you have no way to prove yourself right."

"There may or may not be benevolence and righteousness. You can't prove that human beings must have benevolence and righteousness in their inherent attributes, but I can prove that there must be a human nature that wants to survive. Eating is the proof."

"Since benevolence and righteousness may or may not exist, it cannot be said with certainty that benevolence and righteousness are human nature."

The Confucian scholar laughed and said, "Is it human nature to want to live and have needs? Horses want to eat grass, and they also want to live and have needs. So is a horse a human being?"

Gao Zi patted his forehead and said: "I have said just now that eating shit is not the whole of a dog's nature. Eating shit is part of a dog's nature. Dogs must eat shit, but it is not necessarily a dog that eats shit. People must eat , People don’t necessarily eat. This question has been repeated ten times, why don’t you understand?”

The Confucian scholar said: "Since you talk about human nature, you Mohist can define that the set of all points with the same length on a plane is a circle, but you can tell me what human nature is? How can you judge that it is a circle through a definition? What about people instead of animals?"

"You said to eat, and the beast also eats, so is the beast a human?"

Gao Zi said: "I said that eating is only an external manifestation of human nature, not the essence of human nature. It is like sunlight. You should also know that Sishang did the prism splitting experiment. Sunlight is visible to the naked eye. It’s not the same as the essence.”

The Confucian scholar said: "Even if you are right, eating is one of the external manifestations of human nature, then what is a human being?"

Gao Zi said: "If you want to clarify what a Jianren is, you need to figure out what a Tiren is first. For example, if you and I are talking here, I can call myself me, and you can call myself me. I can call myself Gaozi, and you can also call me They can be called Gaozi, they can all be called Gaozi, after taking the name of Gaozi away, who am I?"

The Confucian scholar was puzzled and said, "This question is meaningless. You are you."

Gao Zi asked again: "Why am I me? And I am not someone else? In other words, if you take your name away, what is the difference between you and others?"

The Confucian scholar clapped his hands and laughed loudly: "The Mo family has no father, that's why they asked such a strange question. I was born of my parents, so this is the difference between me and others."

Gao Zi immediately asked, "Your younger brother was also born to your parents, so are you your younger brother?"

The Confucian scholar said: "It's ridiculous, I don't need you to tell me who I am."

Gao Zi asked again, "Then how do you know who you are?"

Confucian scholars thought this question was ridiculous, so Gao Zi asked, "Why are you you? Why am I me?"

"The root cause is that I am the sum of all my relationships in the world. Including some destined and unchangeable ones; also including those that can be changed by those people's self-choices."

"Those that cannot be changed, I am my parents' son, I am my grandfather's grandson, I am my elder brother's younger brother, I am my younger brother's elder brother, I am my wife's beloved..."

"Things that can be changed, I used to be a scholar with land in my family, I used to be the master of my hired farmer, I was a Mohist, I was a member of the Mohist's Central Committee, and I was living on the taxes on my body. The laborers who are responsible for some affairs on Sishang's salary..."

"The sum of these various relationships is me. You are the same, he is the same, everyone is the same, which makes everyone in the world, everyone, and everyone can't exist without others. , without my parents, I would not be me; without the people who pay taxes on my body, I would not be the me who is arguing with you here; without the servants who worked for me back then, I would not be able to read... All these relationships have created me It’s who I am now, and it also made you who you are now.”

"That's why you are you, and why I am me. And it's absolutely fine."

Confucian scholars were a bit confused by these words, but the eyes of the disciples of the Taoist school who had been pursuing "integrity", "true self" and "returning to nature" suddenly lit up, and they easily understood Gao Zi's meaning.

Because they are different from Confucian scholars, they have been pursuing "what is me", "what is human", "human essence", "human and nature" all their lives.

Gao Zi's words were instantly understood by them, and they also instantly understood why they were themselves and not others.

The Confucian scholar was puzzled and said: "This... this has nothing to do with human nature. It's just that you are you and I am me. Besides, what you said just now is that human needs are human nature, and the sum of human needs and all these relationships What does it matter?"

Gao Zi smiled and said: "I just said about people, so as to distinguish each person. Everyone is everyone, and everyone has various inseparable relationships with everyone else, so everyone is everyone. , everyone can know that they are themselves. This is the body. You should know the theory of the body of the Mohists, right? The point is the body, the line segment is the body; Everyone in the world is concurrent."

"Now I'm going to talk about cum people."

"People have needs, and know that they have needs. In order to meet their own needs, they actively transform themselves and nature, and use the laws of heaven and earth to meet their own needs. This is human nature."

"So human nature is neither good nor evil."

"My parents have needs for sex and reproduction, so the marriage matched me, and that's why I have the relationship that I am my parents' son."

"Those princes allocated land to my ancestors for more power and rule, and my parents' generation hired servants to work for the needs of not getting tired, better food and better clothing, That’s why I am the master of those servants.”

"I myself need to be literate, so I learn to write."

"I realized that the world was in chaos and needed to benefit the world, so I joined the Mohism to benefit the world..."

"All these relationships are precisely because I have needs and know that I have needs. In order to meet my needs, I actively transform myself and nature, and use the laws of heaven and earth to meet my needs."

"That's human nature."

"That's why, my Mohists say that righteousness is profit. Satisfying needs is profit."

"So, different people have different interests. If meeting needs is regarded as human nature, if the specific performance of satisfying needs is regarded as the performance of human nature, then the performance of human nature is always changing."

"The princes and nobles want to be silverfish for themselves, maintain their extravagant life, and get something for nothing, so their righteousness is to hope that the farmers of the world will be bound to the land to do things for them."

"In order to obtain more land, the emperor launched wars and riots. This is also for profit."

"Artisans hope that they can support themselves, that there will be no more wars, and that there will be no more taxes. This is also for profit."

"Farmers hope to have their own land, no more wars, and no more taxes. It is also for their own benefit and their own needs."

"There are all kinds of things, so the benefits of the world are needed, because people are the sum of all relationships, so the righteousness of the world and the benefits of the world must be balanced so that the vast majority of people can benefit."

Gao Zi suddenly raised his voice, impassioned.

"Our Mohists want to benefit the world, so how can we count it as the great benefit of the world?"

"On the way of the great way, the world is the same, and the nine states are unified! Select the virtuous and capable, trustworthy and harmonious, and the old man is not alone in kissing his relatives, not only in his sons, so that the old will die, the strong will be useful, and the young will be good. Those who are widowed, widowed, lonely, disabled, and sick all have something to support them; goods that are evil can be abandoned on the ground, but they don’t need to be hidden in themselves; power that is evil can’t come from the body, and they don’t have to be for themselves, so that everyone can get their own strengths, assign their duties, and do what they like. Datong Paradise."

The people around immediately broke out into bursts of enthusiastic drumming noise.

"The Great Harmony of the World" is a saying that came out when the contention of a hundred schools of thought at the end of the Qin Dynasty was about to come to an end.

As for the concept of Great Harmony in the World, it is obvious that there are strong traces of Mohism and Taoism in it, and the traces are very strong, so thick that there are too many traces of "beasts without fathers and love".

Mencius is not a true fundamentalist Confucian student, neither is Xunzi, and the subsequent Confucian scholars who integrated many ideas such as Mo Daonong are not fundamentalist either.

The development of Mohism and Yang Zhu gave birth to the self-innovation of Confucianism, filling in the loopholes, and creating Mencius; in the last years of the Warring States period, all countries centralized power and followed the times, and Xunzi stood out.

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, when it was impossible to "restrain oneself and restore the rites", Confucian scholars needed a new "distant ideal", so they combined the ideas of Taoism and Mohism to create "the Great Harmony of the World".

Self-restraint and restoration of rituals look backward, and the world's great harmony looks forward.

Just like the catfish effect, in the original history, Yang Zhu, Mohism, Taoism, Huang Lao and many other schools gave birth to the self-reform of Confucianism, but finally returned to the Confucianism of "preserving the principles of nature and eliminating human desires".

All schools of thought, no matter which school of thought develops to the end, they are all inclusive and absorbed by each other.

But the key lies in the kernel.

The core is conservative, and eventually those absorbed things will be assimilated.

The core of Confucianism, the hurdle that can never be bypassed, is the relationship between various crimes and benevolence and righteousness in the early days of capitalism. Only by talking about profit and the irresistible way of heaven can it be possible to overcome it.

Capitalist primitive accumulation with the characteristics of morality and etiquette...maybe there is, but I feel that my level is not enough to build a complete neo-Confucianism system in line with the era of primitive capital accumulation, so I simply change the core.

Taoists talk about the inhumane way of heaven, which can be said to be an irresistible law of nature.

The Mohists talk about weighing big and small profits, which can be said to be the small benevolence and righteousness in front of the big profits in the long run.

Today, there are still more than 150 years before the concept of "great unity under heaven" appeared in history. With appropriate revisions, the Mohists finally called out this seductive and distant ideal in advance.

The world belongs to the public.Kyushu is unified.Everyone loves each other.For the benefit of the world.Everyone does what they can.Everyone is happy.It is Datong.

This revised concept of Great Harmony has a stronger taste in Mohism, especially "everyone does his best, everyone loves each other, everyone is engaged in the work that he likes out of interest, everyone is for me and I am for everyone." The content of "is a summary of the reality and future of the Mohist propaganda in Sishang these years.

And the phrase "do what you like" is a strengthening of the view of human nature just now. Now the Mohists still bear the infamy of "beast without father". The Great Harmony recognized by Confucian scholars is the "beast" that Confucian scholars now oppose.

Hearing this, the Confucian scholar felt like a mouse had fallen into boiling water, and screamed in shock: "Fart! Fart! Fart so much, it stinks, and it will bring disaster to the world. You should be punished!"

"If meeting people's needs is human nature, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

"A farmer who seeks profit must disobey etiquette. He wants to cultivate his own land and no longer works on the public land. If you seek profit, you will find ways to create chaos and have a country's fief."

"People's pursuit of profit is the root cause of chaos in the world. You Mohists actually say that seeking profit is righteousness, seeking profit is human nature, and you must guide human nature. What are you doing if you don't want to cause chaos in the world?"

"If human nature is like this, and what you encourage to liberate human nature, wouldn't it mean that everyone is fighting, the world is chaotic, and blood is flowing..."

Gao Zi retorted, "Your words are simply ridiculous."

"Before Shennong, no one in the world knew how to farm. Shennong realized the will of heaven to domesticate the five grains and teach people to plant them, so as to meet people's needs for food."

"Before there was the Chao family, there were no houses in the world, and people were cold. With the Chao family's understanding of the will of heaven, in order to avoid the rain and the needs of wild animals, there were houses in the world."

"Before Suirenshi, the world didn't know how to use fire. People drank blood like hair. Suirenshi realized the will of heaven. In order to make people eat better meat, the world has fire."

"As for now, because the people need irrigation, rivers are being dug, so there is the gunpowder blasting method, which saves manpower."

"Because the mine needs to pump water, in order to meet this demand, the Machinery Factory has made a coal-burning machine to meet the demand."

"The satisfaction of people's needs, and the continuous improvement and change of needs are the root of the world's progress. This is the reason for human nature."

"Good and evil are people who distinguish between good and evil, and then judge based on their behavior. I work hard to feed myself, cultivate my own land, and harvest food. I am in order to satisfy my humanity. Am I wrong?"

"I stole other people's property for food. Of course I was wrong. But can you say that human nature is wrong?"

The Confucian scholar cursed: "If needs are human nature, then the world will be in chaos. So needs cannot be human nature!"

Gao Zi laughed and said, "It's like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. This is the law of nature, and this is the unchangeable will of heaven. It doesn't exist if you say it exists, but it doesn't exist if you say it doesn't." It doesn't exist."

"Recognize the existence of human nature and use it to benefit the world. This is what we should do."

"Don't you hear that in ancient times, Dayu controlled the water?"

"Yu's father, Gun, didn't know the way of heaven and the will of heaven, so he blocked the flow of water and caused great chaos in the world. People may turn into fish and turtles and harm the world. This is precisely because Gun can't know the will of heaven."

"Yu Sheng, on the other hand, knows the way of heaven and knows how to guide the flow of water, so as to benefit the world."

"Then, what's the difference between human nature itself being neither good nor evil, and water itself being neither good nor evil when it flows down? To know human nature instead of escaping it is Dayu, who can rely on this unchangeable Tao between heaven and earth, To benefit the world; to escape or even not know human nature at all, and even think that human nature is good, that is Gun, and it will cause great harm to the world!"

"The sun is hot in summer and cold in winter. There is neither good nor evil. But someone wears a cotton-padded jacket in summer but is naked in winter, and then curses the sun for being vicious. Isn't it ridiculous?"

Many Confucian scholars at the bottom had already bowed their heads in deep thought, while the Confucian scholar on the stage was at a loss and didn't know how to answer.

(End of this chapter)